NYC

New York was fun and kind of crazy, and now I need a nap! We stayed at the Millenium Broadway Hotel, steps away from Broadway and Times Square. We had a gorgeous corner room on the 30th floor--this was our view:

And all of this madness was just around the corner from our hotel:

On Friday evening, we met up with Kari and her husband John for dinner at a vegan restaurant called Zen Palate...oh my God...best food EVER! Even our meat loving friends thought the food was fantastic. I may have inadvertently made happy little yummy noises as I gobbled my mushroom forest entree. Later, we waddled off to see Clay Aiken and company in "Spamalot." Kevin and I thought it was hilarious, but Kari and John were a little baffled by the coconuts, the killer rabbit and the general goofiness.

After the show, we braved the freezing rain to savor frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity. I immediately went into a giddy, chocolatey trance (or a diabetic coma, whatever) but Kevin thought the frosty drinks tasted like glorified Ovaltine. (That didn't stop him from polishing off every last drop, though!) We all refrained from ordering the $1000 frozen hot chocolate, which contains 24 karat gold. Does anyone actually ever buy one? I find it hard to believe that even the richest of people have a desire to gild their intestines, but I could be wrong.

The next morning we met Kevin's friend from college, Michelle, for brunch at Norma's. She ordered the chocolate French toast, which is basically thick, gooey slabs of chocolate cake marketed as breakfast food. I indulged a bit with an asparagus and lobster omelette. We kind of laughed about how decadent it was to eat lobster and chocolate cake at 9 AM until we realized that Norma's also has a $1000 menu item, a fritatta made with 10 oz. of some kind of special caviar. Suddenly, our lobster and cake meal seemed like an exercise in restraint!

After brunch, we walked off a small percentage of the calories we consumed at MOMA. I was really excited to see Van Gogh's "Starry Night" up close and personal--I loved the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, but I was so disappointed that "Starry Night" wasn't on display there. I'm not generally all that interested in art, so once I got the chance to see my favorite painting, I was ready to go. We did wander around a bit longer, and now I know that I enjoy Kandinsky's work more than Picasso's...who knows what stunning revelation I'll have the next time I set foot in an art museum?

We had planned to be cheesy tourists and skate at Rockefeller Center, but the rink was closing as we arrived, so we had to settle for a photo op instead. Since my head still looks like it was licked by cows (bonus points if you know what sitcom that line is from), I let Kevin and Michelle do the posing while I hid behind the camera.

With our dreams of skating dashed, we decided to drink. We took the subway way down into the financial district so we could have drinks at a pub frequented by George Washington, the Fraunces Tavern. I thought this cute old neighborhood, dwarfed by skyscrapers, was photo worthy:

And here's a picture of the Fraunces Tavern:

It is allegedly haunted, but although we diligently drank and drank and waited for ghosts, none appeared.

Later, we met Kari, John and a couple of their friends for dinner at the Carnegie Deli. I know it's kind of a landmark in New York, but honestly, I was grossed out by the size of the food. Pastrami piled a foot high is kind of icky! I tried blintzes for the first time...they were okay, but they can't compare to frozen hot chocolate.

Kevin and I arrived back in Syracuse at 2:30 this afternoon, and at 4:00 he had to return to the airport and fly to Oslo, poor guy! I'm really happy to be home, and although I had fun in New York, it's wonderful to look out of my windows and see the lake and trees and squirrels instead of flashing neon lights. (The dearth of honking horns and cabbies swearing at each other is also a welcome change of pace!)

And finally, your reward for reading the whole rambling account of my trip...a picture of my terrible hair. (Ignore the buggy eyes and chubby cheeks and the fact that all my "America's Next Top Model" viewing was for naught as I have no neck in this photo, and instead focus on the crazy feathering effect going on. Seriously, I have no idea what I should do with it, I'm just grateful that it grows really fast!)